11 January 2009
My wife went out to hunt & kill some fabric with a girlfriend today. I took advantage and did some male-bonding of my own down at the local watering hole, No Frills Grill. In the company of 30 or so men of varying ages I watched several hours of NFL playoff action.
Now, I’m not an overt, and certainly not rabid fan of American Football. I think it’s over-encumbered by a set of rules that is so byzantine you damn near have to have an eidetic memory to know all the ins and outs. I find that that reduces my enjoyment a great deal. I do, however, find the coaching strategies fun to watch and enjoy the action – in between commercials.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 12 January 2009)

Listening to:Let’s Go to San Francisco by The Flowerpot Men
from British Top 30 – 1967

18 November 2008
At the end of a long (not as long as Monday seemed), tedious day at work, my friends Brett & Jill texted Marita Beth & I to see if we wanted to join them at No Frills Grill for beer, burgers & trivia. I was still at work when the first page came in, and the second page killed my battery. I did, however, finally get in touch with my wife, who was very interested in a quick bite, so called Brett and said sure. We got there nearing 2000 hours and had that quick bite.
On the way back to the car, I noticed that my wife was wearing some kick ass little brown boots…and said so (hubby points are very, very important). I followed up complementing her boots with a photo for which Marita Beth was happy to provide her still-booted, red light-bathed feet.
Do I get hubby points for taking the photo, too?
Cheers.

23 September 2008
Even though I’m still feeling generally icky, I can almost (not quite) always be talked into beer at my favourite watering hole – No Frills Grill. Brett & Jill texted us earlier in the day with the invite “If u r up 2 it, nfg?” How could I possibly refuse such eloquence? 🙂
We found, while there, that tomorrow (today, as of this writing) the 24th of September is their one year anniversary! So, we took a bunch of silly photos to help commemorate that momentous occasion.
Here Brett is threatening Jill with his patented “Crooked Claw” hand hold and she is just simply “terrified”! 🙂
Happy Anniversary Brett & Jill!
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 24 September 2008 )

Listening to:White Wedding by Billy Idol
from VH1 100 Greatest Songs

(I didn’t even realize as I was typing this, that I was listening to White Wedding)

8 June 2008
While MB was running errands (my errands…for me…I might add), I sat in the comfortable air conditioning of my local and watched Euro2008 games. Watched Austria lose to a lackluster Croatia, then watched Germany go 2-nil up on the Polish. That was a great game. In between, I looked at my hat sitting on the marble bar top and decided I liked the juxtaposition of textures. So, I took a photo:
Cheers.

26 February 2008
Thanks boss!
My boss allowed me to work from home this day. This allowed me to keep the knee wrapped, my body medicated & the leg elevated. However, I did have other pre-planned business to attend to in the evening and since it didn't involve stairs or too much moving we chose not to change the appointment. So, around 1800, MB and I headed to NFG to meet with Marcus. After a loose, informal interview and some negotiating, we "hired" him. Marcus will be managing the weekend operations of my East Wind Games shop at Scarborough Renaissance Festival. This is a much-needed step in the growth of my small company and I think the hiring of Marcus will be a positive experience for all.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 28 February 2008)

Listening to: Old Cold Coffee on the Dashboard by Nickel Creek
from Here To There

19 February 2008
Tuesday night which means trivia with friends at No Frills Grill. We got there a little later than normal and found Brett with three trivia boxes trying to keep all three boxes in the game. Jill & Smiley (her daughter) had been there but Jill took Smiley home, so Brett kept their games active until we got there and took over for Smiley. Smiley immediately became crzy. 🙂 Photo of the day? Partially consumed bottle of beer. My wife drinks Corona Light and this is that bottle:
Why, oh why couldn’t the Mini-Challenge this week be “bottles?”
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 21 February 2008)

Listening to:The Whiskey Never Lies by Sligo Rags
from The Whiskey Never Lies

27 January 2008
Yesterday while visiting NFG Arlington (see yesterday's entry), I was speaking with Jason, the manager about Shiner. He let slip that the NFG in Mansfield had the new Shiner Black on draught and that he would be on duty during the day on Sunday. So, after making sure my computer was working properly and was downloading the many, many megs of necessary updates, I went to NFG Mansfield. Nice place. The bar is big, the patrons friendly and bartender, Annie, very pleasant and knowledgeable. As expected, NFG Mansfield has a good selection of brew both draught and bottle. This is one of the visible beer coolers stocked for the day.
Cheers.

17 January 2008
I think a pattern is developing in the early part of this year. Yet another post about beer. 🙂
This photo was taken at the local watering hole, No Frills Grill where my lovely wife decided I needed to go after spending the greater part of a week in Canada where they've never even heard of No Frills Grill (more the pity, that). So, bundled against the cold (a freezing 54 degrees, she took me to the pub. I'd neglected to take a photo during the day, having spent it inside 4 grey walls staring at a computer screen, but I did remember to take the camera with me to the pub. So, here's a shot of my wife's beer of choice when we're at NFG, Corona Light.
I personally drink Shiner Bock when I'm there as it's a wholly drinkable beverage and fits my budget nicely. NFG treats it as a domestic (which it is) rather than an import. I appreciate that.
Cheers.

2 January
Back to the grind and so I go, hand to heart and nose to wheel. I have no choice, most of us don’t. I get a little more disgruntled and a little more desperate every day. But, I do what I must and I do it to the absolute best of my ability – despite adversity and uncomfortable pressure from above. As such, when the escape is offered, I frequently take it and use it. Today was no exception. Terrill and I went to No Frills Grill to watch pure escapist television – College Football. He was pulling for (not rooting for) Oklahoma because he wanted a Big 12 team to win the Fiesta Bowl. I couldn’t care less, but because I don’t care for Oklahoma as a state (it’s flat and dusty) and I do love the scenery of West Virginia, I pulled (call it rooting if you will) for them. I later found out, as Marita Beth joined us for the first and part of the last quarters of the game, that her father had gone to West Virigina and both she and her brother had applied to, and been accepted at, West Virginia. Therefore, it was natural that I pull for them. West Virginia won because I’m pretty sure that the Oklahoma squad didn’t show up for the final quarter. During the game, I amused myself with trivia and Terrill played poker. After all, we needed something to do during the 3 hours of commercial breaks. This is a photo of Terrill losing a hand to someone named Lucy:
That $10,200 was mostly Terrill’s money. Good thing it’s all virtual, eh?
Cheers.

13 December 2007
Had to get a trivia fix in somehow, so MB and I headed to NFG on a Thursday night to play trivia and maybe have a burger and/or some beer. I used to play this trivia thing nearly every night years and years and years ago. That was back when the boxes were operated by NTN (National Trivia Network). I grew out of it, because the questions just kept repeating themselves and there's no fun in winning every hand because you've already had those questions many times before. I stopped playing. Recently, a couple of years ago, Buzztime bought out NTN and started adding newer & better & more relevant questions. But, sadly, they also seemed to lose, at the same time, some of the technical consistency that NTN had down pat. The boxes go in and out of service, the delay between answering the question and receiving a response has gotten longer and more frequently irritating. In general, the quality has gone down. Yet still I play. There's nothing quite like accidental learning. Here is a photo of me playing. Notice my hand in strategic positioning to best answer the question quickly & accurately.
Cheers.